Reports of verbal degradation, slurs, harassment abound in RSC

The Rayburn Student Center sees many students enter each day, but not all students feel free from hostility. Photo Courtesy | TAMUC

(Editor’s Note: The language that appears in this story is exactly how the reporter heard and it is presented uncensored for the sake of authenticity. It may offend some readers.)

Sarah Chapin | Staff Reporter

Following reports of verbal degradation, racial slurs, and sexual harassment in the Rayburn Student Center, an East Texan reporter sat in the student center every day during the week of Feb. 19 to corroborate the reports.

Concern over the students’ language was brought to Senator Alejandra Salcedo by Chief of University Police Donna Spinato and Assistant Chief Bryan Vaughn after Salcedo took a tour of the University Police Department as part of her job as Campus Safety and Security Chair.

Salcedo raised the matter in the Feb. 14 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting and recommended that SGA release a civility statement to students, a motion which was approved.

Salcedo had seen inappropriate language personally as she stationed tables in the atrium. JUMP

“In one hour, I heard two catcalls,” Salcedo said after the meeting. “I even had to step in and say, ‘hey, this is not what you should do.’”

The following reports are exact accounts of what the reporter witnessed and heard.

After just arriving in The Club on Monday a group of female students was sitting at a table in the corner of the room. The students seemed peaceful until one of the group members walked away. After she had completely left The Club, the other females began talking about her while repeatedly using the “f” word. The students even called the absent girl a “fucking bitch”.

This was closely followed by a male student holding up the ‘L’ sign to his forehead as he yelled, “Fucking Loser” to another male across the room.

However, these were not the worst of the interactions witnessed in the student center. There were several instances of sexual harassment to both male and female students.

The first witnessed case of sexual harassment occurred on Monday when a male student began yelling at a female student and repeating, “I was just trying to say hey how you doin’, so I could know how you’re doing”. As the male yelled, the female tried to back away from him, but he continued to get closer, louder and more animated with his gestures.

The only instance of a female harassing a male was also witnessed on Monday. A female student walked up to a male student and began hugging him from behind. The male yelled, “Get off my ass”, but she continued hugging him until he pried her hands off of him.

The next instance occurred on Tuesday when a male student continued to play with a female’s hair after she repeatedly told him to stop.

However, the most inappropriate incident took place on Wednesday afternoon in The Club. A female student was sitting with a group of her friends talking about her recent engagement when a male came up and began attempting to flirt with her. She was visibly uncomfortable and repeatedly asked him to leave, but he continued hitting on her. She told him she just got engaged and showed him the ring on her finger. He replied tastelessly by saying, “If it doesn’t work out, hit me up” and laughed at his ‘joke’. She told him, “Even if I was single, I wouldn’t be with you” to which he became noticeably offended and said, “Well you didn’t have to be like that. You didn’t have to be rude”. She responded by informing him that if he had left her alone, she wouldn’t have said it in order to make him stop. His reply was saying, “Whatever” and leaving The Club.